AMCC 720-0127-04 User manual

3ware®
Serial ATA RAID Controller
Command Line Interface
Supports the 9000 Series
(9500S, 9550SX, 9590SE)
PN: 720-0127-04
April 2006
CLI Guide

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Copyright
©2003-2006 Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC). All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the proper written consent of
AMCC, 215 Moffett Park Drive, Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
Trademarks
3ware, Escalade, and 3DM are all registered trademarks of AMCC. The
3ware logo, 3BM, StorSwitch, TwinStor, and R5 Fusion are all trademarks of
AMCC. All other trademarks herein are property of their respective owners.
Disclaimer
While every attempt is made to make this document as accurate as possible,
AMCC assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in this document,
nor does AMCC make any commitment to update the information contained
herein.

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Table of Contents
About This Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
How this Guide is Organized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1. Introduction to the 3ware Command Line Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Supported Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Installing the 3ware CLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Installing the 3ware CLI on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Installing the 3ware CLI on Linux and FreeBSD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Working with 3ware CLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Using the command interface interactively . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Using a single command with output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Using an input file to execute a script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Outputting the CLI to a Text File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Available RAID Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Determining What RAID Level to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
StorSave Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 2. Primary CLI Syntax Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Common Tasks Mapped to CLI Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Primary Syntax Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Shell Object Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
focus Object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
show ver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
show alarms [reverse] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
show diag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
show rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
show verify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
show selftest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
flush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
rescan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
commit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Controller Object Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
/cx show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
/cx show attribute [attribute ...] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
/cx show driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
/cx show model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
/cx show firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
/cx show bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
/cx show monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
/cx show serial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
/cx show pcb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
/cx show pchip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
/cx show achip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Chapter 3.
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/cx show numdrives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
/cx show numports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
/cx show numunits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
/cx show ctlbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
/cx show exportjbod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
/cx show spinup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
/cx show stagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
/cx show ondegrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
/cx show autocarve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
/cx show carvesize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
/cx show memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
/cx show autorebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
/cx show unitstatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
/cx show allunitstatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
/cx show drivestatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
/cx show all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
/cx add type=<RaidType> disk=<p:-p> [stripe=Stripe] [noscan] [group=<3|4|5|6>]
[nocache] [autoverify] [ignoreECC] [name=string]
[storsave=<protect|balance|perform>] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
/cx rescan [noscan] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
/cx commit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
/cx flush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
/cx show alarms [reverse] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
/cx show diag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
/cx show rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
/cx show verify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
/cx show selftest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
/cx add rebuild=ddd:hh:duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
/cx add verify=ddd:hh:duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
/cx add selftest=ddd:hh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
/cx del rebuild=slot_id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
/cx del verify=slot_id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
/cx del selftest=slot_id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
/cx set rebuild=enable|disable|1..5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
/cx set verify=enable|disable|1..5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
/cx set selftest=enable|disable [task=UDMA|SMART] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
/cx set exportjbod=on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
/cx set ondegrade=cacheoff|follow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
/cx set spinup=nn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
/cx set stagger=nn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
/cx set autocarve=on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
/cx set carvesize=[1024..2048] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
/cx set autorebuild=on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
/cx start mediascan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
/cx stop mediascan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Unit Object Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
/cx/ux show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
/cx/ux show attribute [attribute ...] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
/cx/ux show status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
/cx/ux show rebuildstatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
/cx/ux show verifystatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
/cx/ux show initializestatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
/cx/ux show name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
/cx/ux show serial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
/cx/ux show qpolicy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

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/cx/ux show storsave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
/cx/ux show volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
/cx/ux show all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
/cx/ux export [noscan] [quiet] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
/cx/ux del [noscan] [quiet] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
/cx/ux start rebuild disk=p<p:-p...> [ignoreECC] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
/cx/ux start verify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
/cx/ux pause rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
/cx/ux resume rebuild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
/cx/ux stop verify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
/cx/ux flush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
/cx/ux set autoverify=on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
/cx/ux set cache=on|off [quiet] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
/cx/ux set ignoreECC=on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
/cx/ux set name=string . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
/cx/ux set qpolicy=on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
/cx/ux set storsave=protect|balance|perform [quiet] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
/cx/ux migrate type=RaidType [disk=p:-p]
[group=3|4|5|6] [stripe=Stripe] [noscan] [nocache] [autoverify] . . . . . . . . . 64
Port Object Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
/cx/px show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
/cx/px show attribute [attribute ...] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
/cx/px show status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
/cx/px show model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
/cx/px show serial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
/cx/px show firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
/cx/px show identify . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
/cx/px show ncq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
/cx/px show lspeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
/cx/px show capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
/cx/px show smart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
/cx/px show all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
/cx/px export [noscan] [quiet] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
/cx/px set identify=on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
BBU Object Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
/cx/bbu show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
/cx/bbu show attribute [attribute ...] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
/cx/bbu show status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
/cx/bbu show batinst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
/cx/bbu show lasttest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
/cx/bbu show volt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
/cx/bbu show temp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
/cx/bbu show cap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
/cx/bbu show serial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
/cx/bbu show fw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
/cx/bbu show pcb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
/cx/bbu show bootloader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
/cx/bbu show all . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
/cx/bbu test [quiet] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
/cx/bbu enable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
/cx/bbu disable [quiet] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Help Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Help with specific commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Help with attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Chapter 3.
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help show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
help flush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
help rescan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
help commit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
help focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
help /cx . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
help /cx/ux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
help /cx/px . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
help /cx/bbu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Environment Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Return Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Chapter 3. Legacy CLI Syntax Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Screen Reporting Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Info Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
info cid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
info cid driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
info cid model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
info cid firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
info cid bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
info cid monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
info cid serial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
info cid pcb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
info cid pchip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
info cid achip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
info cid numports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
info cid numunits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
info cid numdrives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
info cid unitstatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
info cid allunitstatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
info cid drivestatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
info cid exportjbod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
info cid ondegrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
info cid spinup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
info cid stagger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
info cid uid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
info cid uid status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
info cid uid rebuildstatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
info cid uid verifystatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
info cid uid initializestatus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
info cid pid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
info cid pid status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
info cid pid model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
info cid pid serial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
info cid pid capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
info cid pid smart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
info cid diag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Maint Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
[maint] rescan [cid ...] [noscan] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
[maint] remove cid uid [noscan] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
[maint] remove cid pid [noscan] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
[maint] deleteunit cid uid [noscan] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
[maint] createunit cid rRAIDType pid_list [kStripe] [noscan] [gDsk_Grp] [nocache]
[autoverify] [ignoreECC] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

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[maint] rebuild cid uid pid_list [ignoreECC] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
[maint] rebuild cid uid pause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
[maint] rebuild cid uid resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
[maint] flush cid [uid ...] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
[maint] verify cid uid [stop] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
[maint] mediascan cid start|stop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
[maint] commit cid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Sched Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
sched rebuild cid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
sched rebuild cid add dday hhour tduration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
sched rebuild cid remove slot_id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
sched rebuild cid enable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
sched rebuild cid disable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
sched verify cid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
sched verify cid add dday hhour tduration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
sched verify cid remove slot_id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
sched verify cid enable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
sched verify cid disable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
sched selftest cid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
sched selftest cid add dday hhour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
sched selftest cid remove slot_id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
sched selftest cid enable selftest_task_id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
sched selftest cid disable selftest_task_id . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Alarms Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Syntax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
alarms [cid ...] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Set Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
set rebuild cid 1..5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
set verify cid 1..5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
set cache cid uid on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
set autoverify cid uid on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
set overwriteECC cid uid on|off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Help Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
help info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
help alarms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
help set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
help maint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
help sched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
help quit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Return Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Chapter 3.
vi 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA Controller CLI Guide

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About This Guide
3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA Controller CLI Guide provides instructions for
configuring and maintaining your 3ware controller using 3ware’s command
line interface (CLI).
This guide assumes that you have already installed your controller in your
system. If you have not yet done so, see the user guide that came with your
3ware RAID controller for instructions.
How this Guide is Organized
There are often multiple ways to accomplish the same configuration and
maintenance tasks for your 3ware controller. While this manual includes
instructions for performing tasks using the command line interface, two
additional tools are available:
3ware BIOS Manager
3DM®2 (3ware Disk Manager)
For information about these tools, see the user guide that came with your
3ware RAID controller.
Table 1: Sections in this Guide
Chapter Description
1. Introduction to 3ware
Command Line Interface Installation, features, concepts
2. Primary CLI Syntax Reference Describes individual commands using the
primary syntax
3. Legacy CLI Syntax Reference Describes individual commands using the
legacy syntax

23ware 9000 Series Serial ATA Controller CLI Guide

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1
Introduction to the 3ware
Command Line Interface
The 3ware SATA RAID Controller Command Line Interface (CLI) for Linux,
Windows, and FreeBSD is provided to manage 7000, 8000, and 9000-series
3ware ATA and Serial ATA RAID controllers. Multiple 3ware RAID
controllers can be managed using the CLI via a command line or script.
Note: All information contained in this document that describes
usage for the 3ware 9000 series products will not work with 3ware
7000 or 8000 series controllers.
Warning!
For all of the functions of the 3ware CLI to work properly, you
must have the proper CLI, firmware, and driver versions installed.
Check http://www.3ware.com for the latest versions and upgrade
instructions.
Features
3ware CLI is a command line interface storage management application for
3ware RAID Controllers. It provides controller, logical unit, drive, and BBU
(Battery Backup Unit) management. It can be used in both interactive and
batch mode, providing higher level API (application programming interface)
functionalities.
The 3ware CLI provides the functionality of the 3ware Disk Management
(3DM®2) utility through a command line interface. You can use it to view
unit status and version information and perform maintenance functions such
as adding or removing drives. 3ware CLI also includes advanced features for
creating and deleting RAID units online.
Note: For complete information on 3DM 2 and for information
about configuring or upgrading your computer, refer to the user
guide that came with your 3ware RAID controller.

Chapter 1. Introduction to the 3ware Command Line Interface
43ware 9000 Series Serial ATA Controller CLI Guide
Supported Operating Systems
Windows. Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003, both
32-bit and 64-bit.
Linux.Redhat, SuSE, both 32-bit and 64-bit.
FreeBSD, both 32-bit and 64-bit.
For specific versions of Linux and FreeBSD that are supported for the 3ware
CLI, see the Release Notes.
Terminology
This document uses the following terminology:
Logical Units. Usually shortened to “units.” These are block devices
presented to the operating system. A logical unit can be a one-tier, two-tier, or
three-tier arrangement. JBOD, Spare, and Single logical units are examples of
one-tier units. RAID 1 and RAID 5 are examples of two-tier units and as such
will have sub-units. RAID 10 and RAID 50 are examples of three-tier units
and as such will have sub-sub-units.
Port. A controller has one or many ports (typically 4, 8, 12, 16). Each port can
be attached to a single disk drive.
For additional information about 3ware controller concepts and terminology,
see the user guide that came with your 3ware RAID controller.

Installing the 3ware CLI
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Installing the 3ware CLI
Warning!
If you are using 3DM, as opposed to 3DM2, AMCC does not
recommend installing both 3DM and CLI on the same system.
Conflicts may occur. For example, if both are installed, alarms will
be captured only by 3DM. You should use either CLI or 3DM to
manage your 3ware RAID controllers.
This is not an issue for 3DM2. It can be installed with CLI.
Installing the 3ware CLI on Windows
3ware CLI can be installed or run directly from the 3ware software CD, or the
latest version can be downloaded from the 3ware web site,
http://www.3ware.com. Online manual pages are also available in nroff and
html formats. These are located in /packages/cli/tw_cli.8.html or
tw_cli.8.nroff.
To install 3ware CLI on Windows
Copy the file tw_cli.exe to the directory from which you want to run the
program.
CLI is located on the 3ware CD in the directory \packages\cli\windows
Note: CLI comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Be sure to copy the
correct version for the version of the operating system you are using.
Permissions Required to Run CLI
To run CLI, you can be logged onto Windows with one of the following sets
of persmissions:
Administrator
User with administrator rights
Domain administrator
Domain user with Domain Admin or Administrator membership
Without the correct privileges, CLI will prompt and then exit when the
application is executed.
If you are uncertain whether you have the correct permissions, contact your
network administrator.

Chapter 1. Introduction to the 3ware Command Line Interface
63ware 9000 Series Serial ATA Controller CLI Guide
To start CLI, do one of the following:
Start the 3ware CD and at the 3ware Escalade menu, click Run CLI.
Or, open a console window, change to the directory where tw_cli is
located, and at the command prompt, enter
tw_cli
OR, double-click the CLI icon in a folder.
The CLI prompt is displayed in a DOS console window.
Installing the 3ware CLI on Linux and FreeBSD
3ware CLI can be installed or run directly from the 3ware software CD, or the
latest version can be downloaded from the 3ware web site,
http://www.3ware.com.
To install the 3ware CLI, copy tw_cli to the directory from which you want to
run the program. CLI is located on the 3ware CD in /packages/cli/freebsd
or /packages/cli/linux.
Online manual pages are also available in nroff and html formats. These are
located in /packages/cli/tw_cli.8.html or tw_cli.8.nroff.
You will need to be root or have root privileges to install the CLI to
/usr/sbin and to run the CLI.
Filename: tw_cli
To install the CLI to a different location, change /usr/sbin/ to the desired
location.
Notes:
The installation location needs to be in the environment path for
root to execute the CLI without using complete paths (i.e., if
installed to /usr/sbin/, you can type tw_cli on the command
line, otherwise you will have to type the complete path:
/home/user/tw_cli
The 3ware CLI comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Be sure to
copy the correct version for the version of the operating system you
are using.

Working with 3ware CLI
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Working with 3ware CLI
You can work with the 3ware CLI in different ways:
Interactively, entering commands at the main prompt
As a series of single commands
By creating a script—an input file with multiple commands
This first section shows examples of each of these ways.
Examples shown in the CLI Reference chapters reflect the interactive method.
There are two command syntaxes available for the 3ware CLI:
The primary command syntax.
The current CLI version of the 3ware CLI includes a new command
syntax to improve usability. This is now considered the primary syntax for
use in the 3ware CLI, and includes commands for features new in the
3ware RAID controller software after version 9.1.5, such as those that are
used with the Battery Backup Unit (BBU).
Details of the primary syntax are described under “Primary CLI Syntax
Reference” on page 19.
Legacy command syntax.
In the current CLI version, the command syntax used in previous versions
of the 3ware CLI is still supported, to make sure that scripts written with
the old syntax will still operate. New functions (such as BBU-related
commands, StorSave and queuing policies, and other recent additions) are
not available in the legacy syntax. The legacy command syntax will be
supported for a limited time.
Details of the legacy syntax are described under “Legacy CLI Syntax
Reference” on page 85.
Using the command interface interactively
You can use 3ware CLI interactively, entering commands at the main prompt
and observing the results on the screen.
To use the CLI interactively
1 Enter the following command:
# tw_cli
The main prompt is displayed, indicating that the program is awaiting a
command.
//localhost>

Chapter 1. Introduction to the 3ware Command Line Interface
83ware 9000 Series Serial ATA Controller CLI Guide
2 At the CLI prompt, you can enter commands to show or act on 3ware
controllers, units, and drives.
For example,
//localhost> show
displays all controllers in the system and shows details about them, like
this:
Ctl Model Ports Drives Units NotOpt RRate VRate BBU
------------------------------------------------------------
c0 7500-12 12 8 3 1 2 - -
c1 9506S-12 12 6 1 0 3 5 TESTING
Using a single command with output
You can use 3ware CLI with line arguments, processing a single command at
a time. To do so, simply enter the command and the arguments.
Single commands can be useful when you want to perform a task such as
redirecting the output of the command to a file. It also allows you to use the
command line history to eliminate some typing.
Syntax
tw_cli <command line arguments>
Example
tw_cli /c0 show diag > /tmp/3w_diag.out
Using an input file to execute a script
You can operate 3ware CLI scripts by executing a file. The file is a text file
containing a list of CLI commands which you have entered in advance. Each
command must be on a separate line.
Syntax
tw_cli -f <filename>
Where <filename> is the name of the text file you want to execute.
Example
tw_cli -f clicommand.txt
This example executes the file clicommand.txt, and runs the CLI commands
included in that file.
Scripting example
Following is a a scripting example using a text file called config_array.txt,
containing three commands. This example sets up a 12-port controller with

Working with 3ware CLI
www.3ware.com 9
two units: one with the first 2 drives mirrored, and another with the remaining
drives in a RAID 5 array. In then prints the configurations for verification.
The commands included in the script file are:
/c0 add type=raid1 disk=0-1
/c0 add type=raid5 disk=2-11
/c0 show
To run the script, enter:
tw_cli -f config_array.txt
Outputting the CLI to a Text File
You can have the output of the 3ware CLI, including errors, sent to a text file
by adding 2>&1 to the end of the line. This could be useful, for example, if
you want to email the output to AMCC Technical Support.
Examples tw_cli /c2/p0 show >> controller2port0info.txt 2>&1
or
tw_cli /c0 show diag >> Logfile.txt 2>&1
Conventions
The following conventions are used through this guide:
In text, monospace font is used for code and for things you type.
In descriptions and explanations of commands, a bold font indicates the
name of commands and parameters, for example, /c0/p0 show all.
In commands, an italic font indicates items that are variable, but that you
must specify, such as a controller ID, or a unit ID, for example, /c0/p0
show attribute, and /cx/px show all
In commands, brackets around an item indicates that it is optional.
In commands, ellipses (...) indicate that more than one parameter at a time
can be included, for example, /c0/p0 show attribute [attribute ...], or that
there is a range between two values from which you can pick a value, for
example, /cx set carvesize=[1024...2048].
In commands, a vertical bar (|) indicates an 'or' situation where the user
has a choice between more than one attribute, but only one can be
specified.
Example: In the command to rescan all ports and reconstitute all units, the
syntax appears as rescan [cid...] [noscan]. The italic cid indicates that you
need to supply a controller ID. The ellipses indicate that you can specify more
than one controller ID, separated by spaces. The brackets indicate that you
may omit the controller ID, to rescan all controllers, and the noscan
parameter, so that the operation will be reported to the operating system.

Chapter 1. Introduction to the 3ware Command Line Interface
10 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA Controller CLI Guide
Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels
The next few pages introduce RAID concepts you may find useful. For
additional information about installing and managing your 3ware controller,
see the user guide that came with your 3wae RAID controller.
3ware controllers use a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) to
increase your storage system’s performance and provide fault tolerance
(protection against data loss).
The following concepts are important to understand when working with a
RAID controller:
Arrays and Units. In the storage industry, the term “array” is used to
describe two or more disk drives that appear to the operating system as a
single unit. When you work with 3ware software, “unit” is the term used
to refer to an array of disks that is configured and managed through the
3ware software. Single-disk units can also be configured in the 3ware
software.
Mirroring. Mirrored arrays write data to paired drives simultaneously. If
one drive fails, the data is preserved on the paired drive. Mirroring
provides data protection through redundancy. In addition, mirroring using
a 3ware controller provides improved performance because 3ware’s
TwinStor technology reads from both drives simultaneously.
Striping. Striping across disks allows data to be written and accessed on
more than one drive, at the same time. Striping combines each drive’s
capacity into one large volume. Striped disk arrays achieve highest
transfer rates and performance at the expense of fault tolerance.
Distributed Parity. Parity works in combination with striping on RAID 5
and RAID 50. Parity information is written to each of the striped drives,
in rotation. Should a failure occur, the data on the failed drive can be
reconstructed from the data on the other drives.
Hot Swap. The process of swapping out a drive without having to shut
down the system. This is useful when you need to swap out a degraded
drive, manually or automatically, with a pre-designated spare.
Array Roaming. The process of swapping out or swapping in a
configured unit without having to shut down the system. This is useful if
you need to move the unit to another controller.
Disk Roaming. The process of removing a unit from a controller and
putting it back later, either on the same controller, or a different one, and
having it recognized as a unit. The disks may be in a different order than
they initially occupied, without harm to the data. The disks may be
attached to the same ports or different ports on the controller.

Understanding RAID Concepts and Levels
www.3ware.com 11
Available RAID Configurations
The following RAID levels and configurations are available for drives
attached to a 3ware controller:
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 10
RAID 50
Single Disk
JBOD
Hot Spare
RAID 0
Provides striping, but no mirroring. Striped disk arrays achieve high transfer
rates because they can read and write data on more than one drive
simultaneously. The stripe size is configurable in the 3ware CLI, 3ware BIOS
Manager (3BM) and in the 3ware Disk Manager (3DM 2). Requires a
minimum of two drives.
When drives are configured in a striped disk array (see Figure 1), large files
are distributed across the multiple disks using RAID 0 techniques.
Striped disk arrays give exceptional performance, particularly for data
intensive applications such as video editing, computer aided design and
geographical information systems.
RAID 0 arrays are not fault tolerant. The loss of any drive results in the loss of
all the data in that array, and can even cause a system hang, depending on
your operating system. RAID 0 arrays are not recommended for high
availability systems unless additional precautions are taken to prevent system
hangs and data loss.
Figure 1. RAID 0 Configuration Example
RAID 1
Also known as a mirrored array. Mirroring is done on pairs of drives.
Mirrored disk arrays write data to two drives using RAID 1 algorithms (see

Chapter 1. Introduction to the 3ware Command Line Interface
12 3ware 9000 Series Serial ATA Controller CLI Guide
Figure 2). This gives your system fault tolerance by preserving the data on
one drive if the other drive fails. Fault tolerance is a basic requirement for
mission critical systems like web and database servers.
3ware uses a patented technology, TwinStor®, on RAID 1 arrays for
improved performance during sequential read operations. With TwinStor
technology, read performance is twice the speed of a single drive during
sequential read operation.
The adaptive algorithms in TwinStor technology boost performance by
distinguishing between random and sequential read requests. For the
sequential requests generated when accessing large files, both drives are used,
with the heads simultaneously reading alternating sections of the file. For the
smaller random transactions, the data is read from a single optimal drive head.
Figure 2. RAID 1 Configuration Example
RAID 5
Combines striping data with parity (exclusive OR) to restore data in case of a
drive failure. This array type provides performance, fault tolerance, high
capacity, and storage efficiency. Requires a minimum of three drives.
Parity information is distributed across all drives rather than being
concentrated on a single disk (see Figure 3). This avoids throughput loss due
to contention for the parity drive.
Figure 3. RAID 5 Configuration Example
RAID 10
This array is a combination of RAID 1 with RAID 0. Striped and mirrored
arrays for fault tolerance and high performance. Requires a minimum of four
drives to use both RAID 0 and RAID 1 techniques.
RAID 5
A Blocks
0 parity
A4
A3
A2
A1 1 parity
B4
B3
B2 2 parity
C4
C3
C1
3 parity
D4
D2
D1
4 parity
E3
E2
E1
B0 C0 D0 E0
B Blocks C Blocks D Blocks E Blocks